Fort Benning

 

U.S. army post, 189,000 acres (76,500 hectares), W Ga., S of Columbus; est. 1918. One of the largest army posts in the United States, it is the nation's largest infantry training center and the home of the Army Infantry School.

US Army Infantry Center & Fort Benning & the US Army Infantry School
US Army Infantry Center Flag and US Army Infantry School Flag
Active
Country	USA
Branch	Infantry
Type	Garrison and School
Colors	Blue and White

Fort Benning is a United States Army base, located southwest of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Fort Benning is a self-sustaining military community supporting in excess of 100,000 military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees, and civilian employees on a daily basis. It is a power projection platform, and possesses the capability to deploy combat-ready forces by air, rail, and highway. Fort Benning is the home of the United States Army Infantry School; the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation; the headquarters of the 75th Ranger Regiment along with the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment; the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 14th Combat Support Hospital, and a myriad of additional tenant units.

History

Fort Benning is named for Brigadier General Henry L. Benning, a Confederate army general and a native of Columbus, Georgia. It was established in October 1918 as Camp Benning, and did not receive permanent quarters and status until World War II. The base covers 182,000 acres (737 km²). During World War II, Fort Benning included 197,159 acres (797.87 km²), and had billeting space for 3,970 officers and 94,873 enlisted persons. The Chattahoochee River runs through Fort Benning, which straddles the Georgia/Alabama state line.

During World War II (WWII) Fort Benning became home to the 555th Parachute Infantry Company, known as the Triple Nickel. Their training began in December 1943. This represented an important milestone for black Americans. The Company, later expanded to become the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, was trained at Fort Benning and did not deploy overseas. The specialized duties of the Triple Nickel were primarily firefighting duties as parachute smoke jumpers. The 555th was secretly deployed to the Pacific Northwest in the United States in response to an anticipated threat. There was concern that forest fires were being deliberately set by the Japanese military using incendiary balloons as an attempt to produce terror among the citizens. The 555th successfully completed over 1,000 missions as smoke jumpers and thwarted the enemy's attempts to spread terror within the United States.

Fort Benning's first mission was to provide Basic Training for units participating in World War I. With the end of that war, Benning was closed until the Army could find a use for it. The first Tenant Unit to arrive was the Infantry School, which has been there ever since. The Civilian Conservation Corps completed the wooden permanent buildings in the 1930s, and Fort Benning expanded from that point forward.

Fort Benning is where the US 2nd Armored Division was formed.

The Airborne School on Main Post has three 249-foot (76 m) drop towers called "Control Descent Towers" for training paratroopers, familiar Fort Benning landmarks, they were built after soldiers trained in New Jersey on a similar tower designed by the company which built parachute towers for the 1939 World's Fair in New York. Only three towers stand today, the fourth tower was toppled by a tornado on March 14th, 1954.

Convicted Vietnam War war criminal William Calley spent 3 1/2 years under house arrest at Fort Benning.

In the School of the Americas, located in Fort Benning were trained many international military officers, unfortunately, a few of which were responsible for crimes and murders, like Manuel Noriega (U.S.-supported dictator in Panama between 1983 to 1989), Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos (responsible of massacres in San Salvador, like Central American University's massacre in 1989). Graduates of the SOA include also men such as Hugo Banzer Suárez, Leopoldo Galtieri, , Efraín Ríos Montt, Vladimiro Montesinos, Guillermo Rodríguez, Omar Torrijos, Roberto Viola, Roberto D'Aubuisson, Victor Escobar and Juan Velasco Alvarado.^{[1] [citation needed]} Because many of its students have been associated with death squads, and coups in Latin American countries, the school's acronym is reparsed by its detractors as the "School of the Assassins".

The 4th Infantry Division, first of four divisions committed by the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, reorganized and completed its basic training at Fort Benning (Sand Hill and Harmony Church areas} from October 1950 to May 1951, when it deployed to Germany for five years.

Mission

The post is home to the United States Army Infantry School as well as being the Army's airborne (parachuting) school. Further, it is home to a Basic Combat Training Brigade (BCTB) on Sand Hill. This is distinguished from the Infantry Training Brigade (ITB) in that ITB includes both basic training and infantry Advanced Individual Training (AIT) for Soldiers who enlisted to be Infantrymen. ITB training therefore lasts a total 14 weeks, while BCT is 9 weeks. BCTB is used to train non-infantry personnel, who go on to AIT at other duty stations.

Post organization

There are four main cantonment areas on Fort Benning. They are the Main Post area, Kelly Hill, Sand Hill and Harmony Church.

Main Post houses various garrison and smaller FORSCOM units of Fort Benning such as 36th Engineer Group, 988th Military Police Company, the 43rd Engineer Battalion, and the 29th Infantry Regiment, as well as a number of TRADOC-related tenants, e.g., Officer Candidate School, Primary Leadership Development Course, Basic Officer Leader's Course II, and Airborne School. Adjacent to Infantry Hall (the post headquarters building, is the Ranger Memorial, an outdoors monument to Rangers.

Kelly Hill houses the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized). Ft Benning is famous for being one of the most challenging posts in the United States Army. Part of this reputation comes from the conditions present on Kelly Hill. The 3rd Infantry Division has always been noteworthy for its discipline.

Kelly Hill houses the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division also known as the sledgehammer brigade because of the sledgehammers used to keep this mechanized division and the tracks on its armor and artillery rolling. The Peter Gabriel song "Sledgehammer" is played over the speakers in the morning after physical training.

Sand Hill is the primary location of the Infantry Training Brigade (198th Infantry Brigade) and the Basic Combat Training Brigade (192nd Infantry brigade).

Harmony Church area houses the 2/29 Infantry Regiment Sniper School, the 1/29th Infantry Regiment (training support for Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Strykers), and the Ft. Benning phase of Ranger School. Victoria Pond, where the amphibious training for the Bradleys take place, is in Harmony Church. Also in this area, about 1 mile (2 km) from Red Diamond Road, is a Civil War era cemetery in a large meadow. The graveyard is marked in the C C 2 area on the Fort Benning tactical military map as CEMETERY 2.

Fryar Drop Zone, the drop zone that airborne students land on, is located in the Alabama portion of Fort Benning.

Fort Benning is also home to:

• The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as School of the Americas
• The US Army Pathfinder School
• Airborne School
• Sniper School
• Stryker & Bradley Schools
• Ranger School
• 75th Ranger Regiment Headquarters
• 3rd Ranger Battalion
• The Infantry Officer's Basic Course (IOBC)
• Basic Officer Leader's Course II

Additional Information

As of August 2005, Major General Walter Wojdakowski is the current post commander. He also serves as the Chief of Infantry, considered the senior Infantryman in the U.S. Army.

Fort Benning was selected by the most recent round of the Base Realignment and Closing Commission (BRAC), to house the new Maneuver Center. This realignment will merge the United States Army Armor School, currently located at Fort Knox, Kentucky with the Infantry Center.

Post Commanders have included General John 'Black Jack' Pershing, General George S. Patton, General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, and General Omar Bradley, for whom the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was named.

Fort Benning in popular culture

Movies

• The movie The Army in Overalls was a short documentary filmed at Fort Benning in 1941.
• The movie Parachute Battalion starring Harry Carey, Edmond O'Brien, and Buddy Ebsen was also filmed on Fort Benning just prior to WWII in 1941.
• The movie The Green Berets starring John Wayne was filmed at Fort Benning in 1966 and in downtown Columbus, Ga. The film featured location shots including an attack on the simulated special forces A camp and a helicopter assault on a bridge crossing the river. The house where the SF team kidnapped the NVA general was located in downtown Columbus, Georgia. The movie theater on Sand Hill area of Fort Benning is in the background on one of the helicopter landing scenes in the beginning of the movie. After they arrive in Vietnam, you can see a large aircraft hangar; this is also visible in the movie "We Were Soldiers."
• The movie Jumping Jacks starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was filmed at Airborne School and on Harmony Church, Fort Benning in 1951.
• The movie Tank starring James Garner, Shirley Jones, C.Thomas Howell, and James Cromwell was filmed at Fort Benning in 1984. A neon sign reading END OF THE HALL is visible inside a bar as this was filmed inside the former Noncommissioned Officer Club on Sand Hill. The 2/10th field artillery did 10 hours of PT on Kelly Hill. T back gate to Kelly Hill was shown as the main gate in the movie. The town in which James Garner destroys the local jail is located on Lumpkin Road. The housing area they all lived in is called Upatoi Creek housing area. It is on Custer Road next to the National Cemetery.
• The movie A Time To Triumph starring Patty Duke was filmed at Fort Benning in 1985
• The movie Your Mother Wears Combat Boots starring Barbara Eden was filmed at Fort Benning in 1988, most of the film was shot at Airborne School and feature the original barracks which housed the 555 P.I.R., they have since been demolished and replaced with a parking lot.
• In the movie "Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino's character is questioned by his nephew at which US Army fort he lost his vision. "Fort Bragg?" questions the nephew. "No, Fort Benning," replies Pacino's character, Lt. Col. Frank Slade.
• The movie Black Hawk Down starring Josh Hartnett was filmed here during the summer of 2000.
• The movie We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson, Barry Pepper, and Greg Kinnear was filmed at Fort Benning in 2000. Some notable scenes include the 249' Control Decent Towers on Eubanks Field and the Officer housing area along South Lumpkin Road. Doughboy Stadium is where they talk to all of the families. The same aircraft hangar used in The Green Berets is also used in this film. Infantry Hall is featured in the last scene and is disguised as an airport.

TV series

• During Season Two of 24 a Colonel Ron Samuels headed a Special Ops team tracking a bomb. This team was said to be based at Fort Benning. Jack Bauer was also said to have been approached by Samuels whilst being in the military.

Books

• In one of W.E.B. Griffin's books in the Brotherhood of War series a chewing out at the Airborne School was described as a high school drop-out screaming into your face that "He didn't know what kinda chicken-s*** outfit you came here from, but you better get your act together real quick, or I'll ship you outta here so fast your asshole won't catch up with you for 2 weeks!"
• A few characters in Tom Clancy's bestselling novel Rainbow Six were trained/stationed in Fort Benning.
• In his book "That Others May Live", pararescueman Jack Brehm recounts his intense training at Fort Benning that he went through in order to become a PJ.

Video Games

• Part of America's Army, which was designed and distributed by the United States Army, takes place at Fort Benning.

Legend

A story circulates in the Fort Benning area that in the past there had been a situation where Phenix City, Alabama, a town across the Chattahoochee River, had some Fort Benning troops in jail and wouldn't give them back. The story goes that the (unnamed) Commanding General assembled 8000 troops at the bridge and threatened to send them in to rescue the men if they weren't released. An alternate version told was that the General pulled several tanks up on the banks of the river and threatened to open fire. The version with tanks often is cited as having been General George S. Patton when he was at Fort Benning. However, a military historian has stated that the story was partially true in the sense that a general once threatened to roll tanks into Phenix City but that the general in question was not Patton.

General Information

Command Group

• Commanding General/Commandant: Major General Walter Wojdakowski
• Deputy Commandant: Colonel Michael Linnington
• Command Sergeant Major: Command Sergeant Major Joe Ulibarri

Units Present at Fort Benning

Unit, Command

• 199th Infantry Brigade, TRADOC
  • 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment (Basic Officer Leadership Course II)
  • 2nd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment (Maneuver Captains Career Course)
  • 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment (Officer Candidate School)
  • 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Airborne School)
• 197th Infantry Brigade, TRADOC
  • 1st Battalion (Mechanized / Stryker), 29th Infantry Regiment,
  • 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment
  • CONUS Replacement Center
  • 30th AG Reception Battalion, TRADOC
• Henry Caro Noncommissioned Officer Academy, TRADOC
• Ranger Training Brigade, TRADOC
  • 4th Ranger Training Battalion, TRADOC
• 198th Infantry Brigade (Infantry Training Brigade), TRADOC
  • 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment
  • 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, 58th Infantry Regiment
  • 3rd Battalion, 330th Infantry Regiment
• 192nd Infantry Brigade, TRADOC
  • 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment
  • 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, 54th Infantry Regiment
• U.S. Army Garrison, Installation Management Agency (IMA)
• 3rd Brigade SLEDGEHAMMER, 3rd Infantry Division
  • 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry
  • 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor
  • 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry
  • 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery ROCK
  • 203rd Brigade Support Battalion
  • 3-3 Brigade Troops Battalion
• 13th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion 3d Sustainment Brigade
• 14th Field Combat Support Hospital, 44th MEDCOM
• 283d Army Band
• Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, TRADOC
• 75th Ranger Regiment, U.S. Army Special Operations Command
  • 3rd Ranger Battalion
• Martin Army Community Hospital, AMEDD
• DENTAC, USA DENTAC
• US.Army Marksmanship Unit, USAAC, http://www.usaac.army.mil/amu/
• 17th Air Support Operations Squadron, USAF

See also

• Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
• SOA Watch

United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)
Sub-commands	Accessions Command • Center for Army Lessons Learned • Combined Arms Center • Combined Arms Support Command • TRADOC Analysis Center
Installations	Aberdeen Proving Ground • Carlisle Barracks • Fort Belvoir • Fort Benning • Fort Bliss • Fort Eustis • Fort Gordon • Fort Huachuca • Fort Jackson • Fort Knox • Fort Leavenworth • Fort Lee • Fort Leonard Wood • Fort Rucker • Fort Sill • Presidio of Monterey • Redstone Arsenal
Schools	Air Assault School • Air Defense Artillery School • Airborne School • Armor School • Aviation School • Basic Training • Chemical School • Combatives School • Command and General Staff College • Defense Language Institute • Engineer School • Field Artillery School • Infantry School • Intelligence Center • Logistics Management College • Officer Candidate School • Prime Power School • Quartermaster School • Ranger School • School of Advanced Military Studies • Sergeants Major Academy • Special Forces Qualification Course • War College • United States Military Academy (West Point)

External links

• Fort Benning Bayonet, the military-authorized newspaper
• Official Site
• Fort Benning
• School of Americas Watch

Coordinates: 32°21′58″N, 84°58′09″W

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